Thursday, September 20, 2012

Questions over Criminal investigation as media threatened against identifying Court of Session Judge's son who told girl “Enjoy getting raped & stabbed” on twitter

NO action against son of Judge Lord Brailsford after twitter rape & stabbing threat to girl. CLAIMS journalists were ‘threatened’ by Scotland’s Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) over the outing of the son of a high ranking Court of Session judge who told a football player’s girlfriend she was going to “enjoy getting raped and stabbed in Glasgow” are being investigated.
 
The move comes after one journalist for a Scots law online website came forward and told Scottish Law Reporter he had been ‘quietly cautioned’ by Crown Office sources who said he would “receive no further cooperation from the Crown Office in press enquiries”.
 
The Sunday Mail newspaper reported the story on 9 September, however several other media outlets who attempted to make further enquiries with COPFS as to the identity of the 16 year old boy, identified online in various forums such as HERE, received no response.
 
The report in the Sunday Mail carried a comment from the boy’s father, who promised the paper “to deal with it”, yet in similar cases where threats of violence such as rape and the use of knives has been used on twitter or other social media, criminal investigations and charges have usually followed.
 
While Scottish Law Reporter will refrain from naming the boy, given the nature of the case and the clear threats of violence towards individuals made in a public arena, it is in the public interest to identify his father, who is none other than Court of Session judge Lord Brailsford, who recently sentenced a man to life for the brutal stabbing of 41-year-old Kenneth Andrews on a busy street in the east end of Glasgow.
 
in the light of the seriousness of the threats, and the apparent lack of any criminal investigation or even an attempt at any criminal investigation into the conduct of the judge’s son, questions are being raised as to whether Police & Scotland’s prosecutors are purposely dragging their feet over a case where there is clearly a public interest in the law being applied in the same force to the families of members of the judiciary as the law is applied to everyone else.
 
A legal insider told Scottish Law Reporter earlier today it was obvious from the content of the tweet there was enough to bring criminal charges against the author and rubbished the idea that Police Forces claims they could only investigate if a complaint had been mad to them.
 
 
ROBYN WALKER was the target of a series of lurid and threatening messages sent when her boyfriend decided to move from Hearts to Rangers.

A HIGH Court judge’s son told Rangers star David Templeton’s girlfriend she was going to be raped after he signed for the Glasgow club.

The message sent to Robyn Walker from the Twitter account of the privately educated teenager said: “Enjoy getting raped and stabbed in Glasgow you wench.”

The 16-year-old’s father promised to “deal with it” when the message was brought to his attention by the Sunday Mail.

Police said they would investigate if any complaint was received.

Lawyers say the tweet could be an offence under telecom legislation.

Robyn was the target of a series of lurid and threatening messages sent when her boyfriend decided to move from Hearts to Rangers.

She said: “I was shocked when I got this tweet saying he wanted me raped and stabbed.

“It wasn’t nice but I have not complained to police.

“My friends said I should but I have decided not to take it any further.”

Templeton, 23, responded to the message and other threats on his Twitter page.

The Rangers star posted: “People slaughtering my gf! It’s embarrassing! She has nothing to do with what’s happened!”

The judge told us: “Thanks for bringing this to my attention, I will go and deal with it now.”

Both Lothian and Borders and Strathclyde Police said they can only investigate abusive comments made on social networking sites like Twitter if the targets complain to them.

A spokeswoman for the Strathclyde force added: “Our football co-ordination unit will view the tweet to see if any criminality occurred.”

Leading criminal lawyer Matthew Berlow said: “Anyone who leaves an offensive message on a social networking site such as Twitter could be breaching the Telecommunications Act.”

Templeton signed for Hearts in 2007 before joining Rangers on August 31.

His move attracted heavy criticism from Hearts fans.

The sinister tweets can be revealed just months after we told how another internet troll threatened to sexually attack an alleged rape victim on a football fans’s message board.

He posted anonymously that he would “violently rape” the mum as MPs voiced escalating concern at the threatening and women-hating content of many messages left on social network sites and message boards.

His post was just one of scores of bile-filled messages directed at the woman after she accused Blackburn Rovers footballer David Goodwillie of rape.

Charges were brought against the player but later dropped.

Last month a 37-year-old man was was charged with breach of the peace over the posts and is due to appear in court.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Data abuse ‘has gone on for years’ say insiders as Scottish Borders Council fined £250K after pension records found in car park recycle bin

sbclogoScottish Borders Council has been issued a substantial fine by the Information Commissioner Scottish Borders Council, the south of Scotland local authority which finds itself in £262 Million worth of debt after years of abusing public finances, has been issued a £250,000 fine by the Information Commissioner's Office after records of staff pensions were found in a paper recycle bank located in a supermarket car park.

While the ICO’s fine relates to the single breach reported in it’s Press Release, SBC insiders have privately acknowledged there is “widespread abuse of data protection legislation within the council”.

The ICO Press Release :

Council fined £250,000 after employee records found in supermarket car park recycle bin

A Council whose former employees’ pension records were found in an over-filled paper recycle bank in a supermarket car park have been fined £250,000 for the data breach.

Scottish Borders Council employed an outside company to digitise the records, but failed to seek appropriate guarantees on how the personal data would be kept secure.

That prompted the Information Commissioner to use his powers under the Data Protection Act to impose a Civil Monetary Penalty of £250,000 on the Council.

The Data Protection Act requires that, if you decide to use another organisation to process personal data for you, you remain legally responsible for the security of the data and for protecting the rights of the individuals whose data is being processed.

But Scottish Borders Council put no contract in place with the third party processor, sought no guarantees on the technical and organisational security protecting the records and did not make sufficient attempts to monitor how the data was being handled.

It is believed more than 600 files were deposited at the recycle bins, containing confidential information and, in a significant number of cases, salary and bank account details. The files were spotted by a member of the public who called police, prompting the recovery of 676 files. A further 172 files deposited on the same day but at a different paper recycling bank are thought to have been destroyed in the recycling process.

Ken Macdonald, ICO Assistant Commissioner for Scotland, said: “This is a classic case of an organisation taking its eye off the ball when it came to outsourcing. When the Council decided to contract out the digitising of these records, they handed large volumes of confidential information to an outside company without performing sufficient checks on how securely the information would be kept, and without even putting a contract in place.

“It is only good fortune that these records were found by someone sensible enough to call the police. It is easy to imagine other circumstances where this information could have exposed people to identity fraud and possible financial loss through no fault of their own.

“If one positive can come out of this, it is that other organisations realise the importance of properly managing third parties who process personal data. The Data Protection Act is very clear where the responsibility for the security of that information remains, and what penalties await those who do not comply with the law.”

For practical advice on this topic, read the ICO's guidance 'Outsourcing: A guide for small and medium-sized businesses'

Businesses can follow these top tips to make sure they keep personal data safe when outsourcing:

  • Always select a reputable organisation to work with
  • Make sure the organisation has appropriate data security measures in place, including how it disposes of data
  • And make sure the organisation has appropriate security checks on staff too
  • Put a clear, enforceable contract in place
  • Make sure that contract requires the contractor to report any security breaches or other problems to you, and have procedures in place on how you will act if problems are reported
  • If you are going to transfer personal data outside of the European Economic Area, make sure you’re doing so in line with Data Protection Act 1998.

Monday, September 10, 2012

IN THE MONEY : Crown Office accounts reveal Ex Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini on £114K a year received £28K ‘golden goodbye’ meant for politicians

Dame-Elish-AngioliniEx Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini took a golden goodbye payment on top of a slew of jobs since leaving Crown Office. THE latest annual accounts of Scotland’s institutionally inept Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) have revealed that the controversial figure of former Lord Advocate Dame Elish Angiolini DBE QC (born McPhilomy) received a whopping TWENTY EIGHT THOUSAND POUNDS of public money in a ‘golden goodbye’ deal after leaving her Crown Office post, even though the ex Law Chief has scooped up a number of lucrative jobs such as babysitting Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond as his personally appointed Ministerial complaints adviser. More recently, Dame Elish Angiolini was also appointed to the post of Principal of St Hugh’s College, Oxford.

The staggering amount of public money thrown at the former Lord Advocate, despite her numerous high profile roles, which also include jobs in the legal world, has staggered many at a time of public austerity, coming at a time where intense scrutiny of Scotland’s failed prosecution service has revealed a number of high profile blunders in failed criminal prosecutions and dropped investigations involving members of the legal profession and relatives of Crown Office staff caught up in allegations of multi million pound legal aid frauds.

The Crown Office have not issued any public comment on the payoff to Dame Angiolini, who is currently involved in a bitter legal fight against the anti abuse campaigner & journalist Robert Green, reported earlier by Scottish Law Reporter, HERE. Significant questions remain over who is actually paying for the former Lord Advocate’s legal action against Mr Green, which stems from his reporting & campaigning for an inquiry into abuse allegations made by Hollie Greig, a downs syndrome victim who has alleged she was abused by several individuals in the Aberdeen area.

The pursuit of Mr Green by Scotland’s Crown Office, on the orders of the former Lord Advocate resulted in Scotland’s most expensive ever Breach of the Peace trial which saw a record HALF A MILLION POUNDS spent on the investigation & trial of Mr Green, a case which tunnelled through the Scottish Courts system for over two years at huge cost to taxpayers.

The Mail on Sunday reports :

FURY AS TOP LAWYER ELISH GETS £28,000 GOODBYE POT

By Andrew Picken
SCOTTISH POLITICAL EDITOR

SCOTLAND'S most senior law officer was handed a taxpayer-funded 'golden goodbye' worth £28,000 after quitting her top role.

Dame Elish Angiolini stood down as Lord Advocate last year - but we can reveal she walked away with a tax-free 'resettlement grant'.

The generous grants-- unheard of in the private sector - are traditionally given to MPs, MSPs and Government ministers to help ease them back into the 'real world' after leaving office.

Cash-strapped Crown Office bosses yesterday said Dame Elish, who earned £114,000 a year, was entitled to the payout under Holyrood rules - but the news was met with fury elsewhere.

Since leaving her post the former solicitor has worked in a number of lucrative posts as a member of the top firm of advocates Terra Firma, a visiting professor at Strathclyde University and chairing a Government commission on female offenders.

The Glaswegian, the first woman to become Lord Advocate, will also start a new full-time post as principal of St Hugh's College at Oxford University later this month.

The payout is revealed in the Crown Office's latest annual accounts, which warn the organisation is operating within 'significantly reduced funding'.

The accounts also show that deputy chief executive Dr Peter Collings was allowed to 'partially retire' but now earns the same for working a three-day week because of his lucrative pension payments.

Last night, critics hit out at Dame Elish's five-figure 'golden goodbye'.

Eben Wilson, head of campaign group Taxpayer Scotland, said: 'There should be serious questions about why this was paid and why it was so much.'Our legal profession is always complaining about the lack of money in the court system so why was it necessary to make this payment to a person who was leaving of their own accord to pursue other opportunities. 'It's always worrying when we have to find these things buried in reports. Why do we not have where taxpayers' money is being spent out in the open.'

Recent reforms of the resettlement grant process have made the controversial 'golden parachute' payments for Scotland's MSPs more generous.

MSPs who have served three terms at Holyrood but do not return after an election will receive £57,520 - twice as much as many would have got under previous rules.
The first £30,000 of the publically-funded grant is tax free.

The same provisions allow Government 'office holders' a payment representing 25 per cent of their salary - £28,499 in the case of Dame Elish.

Dr Collings, who had been earning between £105,000 and £110,000, saw his salary drop to around £65,000 but his £1 million pension pot means his income is now topped up with an annual pension of between £40,000 and £45,000.

The 2011-12 Crown Office accounts show that a total of 43 staff shared an early retirement payout pot of £2.4million last year.